Fenix in Panama

[fenixrises]

Hi all,
Good fast passage.
21 1/2 days, 2950 miles.
Best day 161 miles, best week 1030 miles.
More from Papetee.

Take care,
Fred

[Carter Brey]

Hi all,
Good fast passage.
21 1/2 days, 2950 miles.
Best day 161 miles, best week 1030 miles.
More from Papetee.

Take care,
Fred

Fred,

your posts are wonderful reading, keep 'em coming.

Carter Brey
Sabre 28 II #532 "Delphine"
City Island, NY

[Russell]

Hi all,
Good fast passage.
21 1/2 days, 2950 miles.
Best day 161 miles, best week 1030 miles.
More from Papetee.

Take care,
Fred

161 mile day is pretty impressive for a 28' boat! Nice job. Any problems on the passage?

[bill2]

Great cruise and adventure

Fair winds - and please keep the updates coming for those of following your trip vicariously . . .

[Neil Gordon]

Hi all,
Good fast passage.
21 1/2 days, 2950 miles.
Best day 161 miles, best week 1030 miles.

Fred,

A fast passage, indeed, averaging 5.7 knots if my math is correct. The weeks seem fairly steady overall, too.

What was the slowest day, by comparison?

[xnk]

Fred, I've been following the modifications you've made and your reports for a while. When I do get my boat (still a couple years off), I will definitely follow your lead before going offshore, namely in the area of outboard chainplates, bulwarks, and decreasing the cockpit volume. I am looking forward to hearing more about how these changes affect the boat's performance.

My antenna here is not quite good enough to pick up the Pacific Seafarer's Net, but I'm working on it.

Fair winds and following seas,
Richard

[George Shaunfield]

Fred,

I have been wondering how you were doing and checked your website tonight. I haven't had time to keep up reading of the message board as much and I had missed your postings on May 31 and in June. FYI, the position reporting on your website is not working.

I am glad that you are doing well and that FeNIX is performing fine. She certainly handled the Atlantic gale in March well. That shakedown cruise was really beneficial to me. I have now made an offshore passage in my CD26 of 38 hours and another of 30 hours duration with a crew of two.

Your approach of simple and reliable certainly sounds desirable to me. Fred, your diligence in preparing FeNIX is paying off. Your assessment of the trim tab tiller spinning the windvane around makes sense now that I think about what we observed on the shakedown cruise. Glad you solved that issue.

Best regards,
George

[winthrop fisher]

sounds like you had fun, love to be down there too....

[fenixrises]

Hi All
A quick report.
Now in Rangiroa.
Good passage from Fatu Hiva, about 5 1/2 days.
Still working out kinks in wind vane, now using a horizontal axis that I cobbled together from parts on board.
So far all systems have worked pretty well. Had one e-bay sail, drifter, seam give up but sail is I think repairable.
Amazing that I have internet on this smqall island in the Pacific.
Will answer previous questions from Papeete. When I have more ime and maybe faster conections.
Do have some real good photos and a couple of short videos.

Take care,
Fred[/code]

[Warren Kaplan]

RANGIROA!
BRAVO!!!

[Russell]

Very cool, I am seriously jealous, I am getting bored here sitting tight for hurricane season, wishing I was on the move like you and the pacific sure sounds like a nice place to be right now. I have friends underway right now bound for Tahiti, if you run into a young couple on a boat named Zaya, their names are Sara and JP, say hi to them for me.

[John Ring]

Rangiroa! Way to go FRED!!


John
CD28 #241 Tantalus

[Didereaux]

I can hardly get the grin off my face, a retired guy, alone in a boat only 28' and he's in the South Pacific!!!!!!! So take that you 30 somethings in your 50 foot somethings!

Fred, bring back the grass skirts, and the Sarong...leave Dorothy LaMour there!

;)

[fenixrises]

Hi all,

Here we are in Rangiroa. Spent a couple of very nice days in the lagoon. But a nasty west wind came up and spoiled everything. After getting beat up for a day and a half by swells and chop I left.

Thinking there would be a south wind coming after the westerly I rounded the east end of the atoll. Good plan. The first day and night were almost calm and then the wind filled in from the south. And kept filling. By the time I got to the longitude of Papeete the wind was 25+ knots with 6-8 foot seas.

I was still 30 miles north of Papeete. The strong wind was funneling right up the channel between Papeete and Moorea. So I decided to head directly to Raiatea only about a 100 miles away.

Since I have been to Tahiti twice before I dont feel cheated.

Raiatea is beautiful. I am tied up right in the downtown area, free but a bit choppy. Some diesel and basic food stuffs. Enjoy and relax.

We will leave Monday for Raratonga, Cook Islands.

Neil Gordon asked about my slowest day. On the passage from Galapagos to Marquises slowest day was about 124 miles and that was the first day out. I had many days over 130 to 150 miles.
My slowest day overall is down around 50 miles but that is from going slow on purpose to dely a night time arrival. Slowest day while trying to go fast was in the 60 range, due to very light winds.

So far my biggest problem is the blown out drifter. A sail I recommend over a cruising chute if it is one or the other. The cruising spin that I have is only .75 oz, lite winds only. The self steering is still undergoing experimentation but is doing quite well considering my modifications are from onboard supplies.

Otherwise most all is performing quite well. But there are things I would and may modify. Mostly the bowsprit. It should be higher relative to the deck.

The trim tab should be of less area and not as balanced.

The wind vane design should be finalized in New Zealand and the other mods made there as well.

Take care for now,
Fred

[fenixrises]

Hi all,

Fenix and I had our first real test together.

After leaving Raiatea we had a good sail for three days though the wind was a bit strong for my liking. In the early hours of
Thursday the wind shifted 90 degrees, to the NE. Uh-oh I though... Something is up.

Sure enough by check-in time on the Pacific Mariners net things were getting nasty. I called in early and spoke with a weather guy on the ham radio. Sure enough, not one but two systems were going through my area. A low followed by a high. After my check in I hove to. For three days.

Raratonga bearly has anything that could be called a harbor and it is on the north side. So running down to a lee coast without a good harbor was out of the question.

Winds were 25-35 knots, seas to 12'. And from all around the compass, as first one then the other system passed. Very lumpy! At it's nastiest, the convergence between the two systems, we had torrential rain for about two hours and for about 1/2 hour 50 knot winds.

But Fenix is a fine small boat and carried me safely through it all. Under either backed staysail or double reefed main we bobbed about. I below, reading mostly, Fenix around me taking all the wind and seas dished out.

By late Saturday we got underway again. The wind was still quite strong from the SE. Under Staysail alone we made 5 knots good on course. By Sunday AM I added the double reefed main. We made landfall just after sunrise and slid into the tiny harbor on the north side of Raratonga and had the anchor down by about 10 AM.

Now its time for a bit of R&R. Next port I hope is Aitutaki, in the Cooks, a bit to the north.

The link on my site to Ship Trak doesn't work. But you can go to ShipTrak.org, enter my call sign, KI4MMB, and follw Fenix and me when we are at sea.

My latest windvane mods are working very well. Like almost any selfsteering it can't handle strong gusts without rounding up but other wise the system is working. Up wind or down it holds the boat to + or- 10 degrees. Not bad for a bunch of PVC pipe and old sailcloth!!

Take care all,
Fred